


"Where were you, Poseidon?"

by DancingInTheSliverGlow



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Abandonment, BAMF Sally Jackson, BUT PERCY STILL HAS SALLY, Book 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson), Bullying, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Abandonment, Dark Percy Jackson, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Flashbacks, Gabe Ugliano Being an Asshole, Gen, He's just not quite there yet, Hope, I'm so happy gabe is gone with no redemption, One Shot, Our QUEEN Sally Jackson, Past Abuse, Percy Jackson is a Mess, Poseidon is trying, Powerful Percy Jackson, Queen - Freeform, Sadness, Sally Jackson is a Good Parent, Short One Shot, but not evil percy jackson, don't read if flashbacks and past abuse triggers you, idk how to tag this, implied good ending, its just sally and gabe, no child abuse, the rest of the story ends the same as canon, this is just a small tweak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24777808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingInTheSliverGlow/pseuds/DancingInTheSliverGlow
Summary: In the battle of the labyrinth, when Percy makes Mount Helens eurpt and Percy goes flying through the air, what if Percy caught a glimpse of the monster that he nearly woke up?In the lightning thief, we found out how much of a scum and monster Gabe was. What if Percy actually caught him hitting Sally when he was younger?In other words: On Mount Helens, the telekhines trap Percy. Luke finds them, brings up a few memories that Percy would rather forget. In his despair and trama, he unleashes the near-full extent of his powers, waking up Typhon.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson & Sally Jackson
Comments: 19
Kudos: 237





	"Where were you, Poseidon?"

**Author's Note:**

> Last warning guys. If flashbacks of physical abuse triggers you, DO NOT READ THIS. There's no child abuse, but Percy does witness the scene. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I used some of the exact dialogue and narration from Rick Riodan's Battle of the Labyrinth.  
> Thats his work, not mine (I'm not trying to take credit for it). I just felt like the scene that I wrote needed those few lines for context & build up. 
> 
> Enjoy :)

The monsters charged after me, barking and growling. I hoped they couldn’t run very fast with those stubby little legs and flippers, but they waddled along pretty well. Thank the gods there was a door in the tunnel leading out to the main cavern. I slammed it shut and turned the wheel handle to lock it, but I doubted it would keep them long. I didn’t know what to do. Annabeth was out here somewhere, invisible. Our chance for a subtle reconnaissance mission had been blown. I ran toward the platform at the center of the lava lake. 

“Annabeth!” I yelled. 

“Shhh!” an invisible hand clamped over my mouth and wrestled me down behind a big bronze cauldron. 

“You want to get us killed?” I found her head and took off her Yankees cap. She shimmered into existence in front of me, scowling, her face streaked with ash and grime. 

“Percy, what is your problem?” 

“We’re going to have company!” I explained quickly about the monster orientation class. Her eyes widened. 

“So that’s what they are,” she said. “Telekhines. I should’ve known. The telekhines betrayed the gods. They were practicing dark magic. I don’t know what, exactly, but Zeus banished them to Tartarus.” 

“With Kronos.” She nodded. “We have to get out—” No sooner had she said that than the door to the classroom exploded and young telekhines came pouring out. They stumbled over each other, trying to figure out which way to charge. 

“Put your cap back on,” I said. 

“Get out!” 

“What?” Annabeth shrieked. 

“No! I’m not leaving you.” 

“I’ve got a plan. I’ll distract them. You can use the metal spider—maybe it’ll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what’s going on.” 

“But you’ll be killed!” 

“I’ll be fine. Besides, we’ve got no choice.” Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. 

“Be careful, Seaweed Brain.” She put on her hat and vanished. 

“There!” one yelled. The entire class of telekhines charged across the bridge toward me. I ran for the middle of the platform, surprising the four elder sea demons so much they dropped the red-hot blade. It was about six feet long and curved like a crescent moon. I’d seen a lot of terrifying things, but this unfinished whatever-it-was scared me worse. The elder demons got over their surprise quickly. There were four ramps leading off the platform, and before I could dash in any direction, each of them had covered an exit. The tallest one snarled. 

“What do we have here? A son of Poseidon?” 

“Yes,” another growled. “I can smell the sea in his blood.” 

I raised Riptide. My heart was pounding. 

“Strike down one of us, demigod,” the third demon said, “and the rest of us shall tear you to shreds.” 

I wished I had a plan. I wished I hadn’t been lying to Annabeth. I’d wanted her to get out safely, and I hoped she’d been sensible enough to do it. But now it was dawning on me that this might be the place I would die. No prophecies for me. I would get overrun in the heart of a volcano by a pack of dog-faced sea-lion people. The young telekhines were at the platform now, too, snarling and waiting to see how their four elders would deal with me.

“Let us see how strong he is. Let us see how long it takes him to burn!” He scooped some lava out of the nearest furnace. It set his fingers ablaze, but this didn’t seem to bother him at all. He threw a glop of molten rock at me but I managed to dodge it. The telekhine scowled at me, as if by dodging the lava I had personally offended him. It picked up some more lava, and I got ready to dodge, but before either of us could move, a ringing sound filled the air. It sounded strangely like a... cell phone?

Another senior telekhine rushed to his workbench and frantically began looking around. After a moment, it found the cell phone and answered it.

“Yes, my lord?” I couldn’t hear whoever was talking at the end of the call. 

“Actually,” the telekhine looked straight at me with a sneer. “He’s right here.”

“Uh huh. We can do that.”

The telekhine hung up. 

“New orders, straight from command!” He announced. “The boss wants the demi-god alive… for now.”

I didn’t like the sound of this ‘boss’. I needed to escape, and catch up with Annabeth.

Although I’d settle for escaping. 

However, that no longer seemed like an option. Everytime I tried moving, even just an inch, the telekhines would scoop up more lava and throw it right in front of me, forcing me to back up. 

After what must’ve been my fifth attempt, I heard voices approaching from outside the forge. One of them… I knew that voice. It filled me with rage.

Luke.

He stepped into the room, and the telekhines stepped aside for him, the way subjects do for a king. 

The sight of it made me sick.

Sick with anger.

How dare Luke parade around in the company of monsters, with that sick smile on his face? After everything he’s done?

I gripped riptide tighter, as a plan came to him. If I could somehow get Luke hostage, the telekhines wouldn’t be able to throw lava at me, they’d let me past. Sadly, there was a huge flaw in that plan. Luke was my perfect rival in sword fights. It would take way too long to beat him, if I even managed to beat him. 

“Percy. Still working for the gods, I see. As their pawn.”

I chose not to respond.

“I mean look where you are! Hephaestus' old forge. No doubt Hephaestus is forcing you to do some favour, so you can ultimately save him and the rest of the gods. Are you finally seeing it Percy? How they are using you? How you, your life is just a means to an end to them?”

I tightened my grip on riptide. During Luke’s speech, it had unintentionally gotten looser. 

I didn’t want to think why.

“No response? Fine.” Luke began to pace in front of me. “The gods never cared about you. Most of them - Dionysus, Athena, Ares and Zeus? They’d have already killed you, if you weren’t going on quests and helping them out. The rest of them? They’re letting you live, because they think you’ll be useful. Not because you’re family, or because you're a child-which you are, you’re fifteen years old- but because they are going to use you to save themselves.”

“And you’re going to do it, and you’re going to die.”

I finally found my voice. “That’s not true. They-my dad-he wouldn’t-”

Luke laughed. It was an empty laugh, the laugh of a dying man that found some way to trick his opponent into dying alongside him. “Your dad? You think Poseidon cares about you? He only claimed you to save himself, to do his dirty work.”

I had no response for that. It was true, Poseidon had only claimed me because I was his last card, his last… way of preventing a civil war. The thought brought a sick feeling to my stomach. I didn’t want to believe Luke. Luke was wrong. He had to be wrong! So why are his words affecting me?

**“Where was Poseidon your entire life? Hmm?”**

Luke paused, waiting on an answer.

I had wondered this, so many times. Why couldn’t Poseidon have picked up the phone? Sent a letter? Popped in to say hi, maybe even just once. Maybe even just for a minute.

My entire life, Poseidon had abandoned me and my mom. 

I didn’t have an answer for him. 

**“Where was Poseidon when you needed a father?”**

Oh, boy. How many times, had I wished I had a dad to help me. I wanted, craved, someone to help me when Nancy Bobofit and her cronies pushed me around the school. 

When the school teachers turned a blind eye to the failing student getting bullied.

When the teachers told me I didn’t do well enough on an assignment or on a test. 

When they told me I wasn’t good enough. 

When they told me I was a failure.

I exhaled slowly, trying to push the tears back. 

I had survived fifteen years of this, Luke wasn’t going to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I steeled myself and looked up at Luke. 

That was a mistake. Luke was looking at me, his eyes full of cruelty and pity. He knew exactly what he was doing to me.

**“Where was Poseidon when you were getting kicked out of schools?”**

I clenched my fists. Riptide’s hilt dung into my right hand, and my nails dug into my left. My throat went dry, and my heart started pounding. Luke was playing mind games with me.

I would not let him win. 

**“Where was Poseidon when you were getting your butt kicked in school?”**

My nails dug into my skin. Was that sweat, or blood I was feeling? I looked down at my hand. It was shaking. I pressed it against my side, and looked back at Luke. I couldn’t show weakness. 

**“Where was Poseidon when your mom, Sally, needed him?”**

I could feel my heart beating, fast, faster than it ever had in my life. How dare he? How dare he speak about my mom? My mom was an angel. Luke didn’t deserve to say her name.

**“Where was Poseidon when Gabe- yes, I know about Gabe- threatened to push you around?”**

My heart raced. I grasped for air. I was inhaling, and it felt like no air was going in my nose or mouth. How did Luke know about this? And how dare he bring it up. I had gotten past Gabe. He was gone, dead. He was out of my life! 

So why did I feel so helpless?

**“Where was Poseidon when Gabe yelled at your mom?”**

My eyes glazed over. Suddenly I wasn’t in the forge; I was back at the apartment. Mom was standing in front of me, trying to placate Gabe as he roared, and violently swung his arms around.

**“Where was Poseidon when Gabe hit your mom?”**

The scene shifted. I was much younger, scared, hiding in the crook of the door as Gabe and my mom yelled at each other. Through the crack of the door I saw Gabe pick up an empty beer bottle and throw it at my mom. She screamed in fear and brought her arms up to protect herself, as the bottle hit the wall inches from her face. She turned towards me and yelled at me to hide, tears streaming down her face as Gabe grabbed her shoulder, tight enough to leave black bruises and slammed her into the wall-

**“WHERE WAS HE?!”**

That force that was welling up inside me, causing my heart to race, my fists to clench and shake exploded. Water burst from me like water pouring out of a dam in every direction. Millions of gallons instantly appeared, and kept coming.

And yet, I hardly noticed. 

I was screaming. 

I screamed in agony for every moment Gabe had hurt me, had hurt my mom. 

I screamed for every time I felt hopeless, we would have never gotten away from Gabe. 

I screamed for every time I saw my mom cry out and beg Gabe to stop, and he didn’t - he never did. 

I screamed, and I felt something inside me break. 

The ground shook. An explosion, a tidal wave, a whirlwind of power simultaneously catching me up and blasting me downward into the lava. Fire and water collided, superheated steam, and I shot upward from the heart of the volcano in a huge explosion, thrown free by a million pounds of pressure. I was flying through the air, up, up and away from the forge, from Mount Helen. 

As I looked down, I saw parts of Mount Helen collapse, large cracks appearing up and down the sides and surroundings. Water and lava poured out, but the strange thing was, they didn’t flow straight down. The lava flowed into the cracks, which I slowly began to resemble a stick figure version of a man. An enormous man, large enough to use the empire state building as a baseball bat.

As I began to fall out of the sky my limbs numb, and my vision faded, my last thought was a sense of foreboding. 

What was that thing, underneath Mount Helens?

And what had I done?

**Author's Note:**

> Sally is a QUEEN and I stan her so much. She's honestly so strong. I mean, this woman gets rid of her abusive ex-husband, makes a statue, sells said statue to a museum AND uses the money to fuel her career and offer her son a education. What a power move. What a queen. We need more Sally Jackson from Rick Riodan :/
> 
> Anywho.... what you think? Gentle criticism is always welcome :)  
> If I left out any warnings you feel are necessary, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS so I can add them. That being said, I'm horrible at tagging so if there's any tags you feel describe this fanfic that I didn't include, feel free to let me know :)  
> Come say hi on [my tumblr :)](https://art-in-the-sunlight.tumblr.com)  
> If you enjoyed, consider leaving a kudos and comment?
> 
> I hope everyone's staying safe and healthy during these troubling times.  
> National Domestic Abuse Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or 911. 
> 
> Emoji Key if y'all want them:  
> ❤ = you wish you could kudos again  
> 😭 = I got you right in the feels  
> 🔥 = you stan our QUEEN Sally Jackson  
> 


End file.
